Bruce Wayne gains a daughter
by Vigilante613
Summary: A woman is murdered, her daughter is left without a family. Bruce takes her under her wing along with Dick, Jason, and Tim. First chapter is a hint at how it begins, Dick/Bruce are main characters for first few chapters. This takes place before Damian is added in the family. Please review :)
1. Chapter 1

The sound of soft footsteps cover the cold ground of the darkness in Gotham.  
There is a woman strolling down the block, she hears a soft cry coming from the alley way.  
She turns the corner, trying to figure out what had made the noise.  
She walks slowly, breathing softly, and tucks her hair behind her ears and adjusts her coat that's two-sizes too big for her small frame.  
A small crack of the door is left open.  
She gently sneaks over where the crying is heard again, and peaks her head in.  
There's a man there, in the back of the abandoned building, he has green hair and red scars along his cheeks, holding a knife around a boys throat and wraps his other arm around the boys waist. Another figure walks over and interrogates the boy, this man has burns running down one side of his face.  
He starts yelling and slaps the boy in the face after he refuses to speak.

The woman peeking into the door makes a small yelp and runs as fast as she can away from the door, noticing that the man with the burnt face has started walking towards her, glaring at her through the small opening of the door.  
She runs as fast as she can and trips over a few pieces of rocks, the burnt-man catches her and refuses to let her go. He holds a gun up along with a coin. He speaks softly in her ear, saying she has a chance to live if his coin flips a certain way.

A dark figure jumps off of the nearby building, wearing a massive cape and a bat-shaped cowl.  
He slowly speaks with a deep tone "Two-face, You'll leave her life up to chance?" he threw a batarang at the man, tossing his gun away from her.. he was stalling Two-Face.  
There was another figure emerging from the dark alley, wearing a armored-body suit that has a blue bird painted on his chest. The young man in the body suit snuck up behind Two-Face and wrapped his arms around his throat, pulling him off the woman.  
"Batman" he calls out, wondering what move to make next while Two-Face struggles in the mans hold.  
"Nightwing, hold him down until the cops arrive, I have all ready alerted commissioner Gordon."

The woman starts to run off down the street, not knowing that the green-haired man was waiting for her around the corner. Batman glides down the street after the woman, he notices the green-haired figure drive a knife into the womans chest, he's slowly driving it in and pulling it back out.

Batman runs towards him and growls, "Joker!"

The man starts building up a laugh from the pit of his gutt and turns the corner, disappearing from the caped figure. Two-Face manages to pull another gun out of his sleeve, and Nightwing kicks the gun out of his hand and throws his fist into the back of the burned mans head, causing him to pass out on the floor.  
Nightwing races towards the woman where she has fallen on the cold concrete, grabbing on to her chest and coughing up blood.

"Batman! I have to get her to a hos-" He stops speaking and notices the caped crusader has disappeared as well. The cop car races around the corner and Nightwing clamps his hand over where the fresh wound is on the womans chest, he picks her up and slides her in to the back of the Bat-Mobile.  
"Is everything okay, Nightwing?" An older-sounding man speaks through the inter-comm of the car,  
"Joker just stabbed someone, I have to get her to the hospital, Alfred!" He shuts the door of the mobile and speeds off.  
"Bring her here, Nightwing, You can't take her there, not when you're still in costume, Batman would be very dis-pleased if you showed up anywhere you could be noticed!"

* * *

Nightwing jumps out of the car and lands on the marble-like ground of the cave, picks up the woman and sets her down on to the table.  
"Where is Batman, Nightwing?" He starts pulling off her jacket, and slips his gloves on.  
"He ran off, chasing after the joker.." Nightwing pulled out the aid-kit that Alfred had brought in and set it down on the table.  
"As well, And you better go hit the showers, Nightwing. I'll do what I can to save her."  
He glanced over at the middle-aged man and noticed the glare he was giving. He surrendered to Alfreds stare and escaped off into the mansion.

* * *

Alfred softly sighs, finishing up the last of the stitches and puts her under a respirator. He softly smiles, noticing that Batman has strolled in through the opening of the cave.  
"Have you seen Dick? The Bat-Mobile and him both -" He instantly swallowed his words and stopped dead in his tracks, noticing Alfred was hovered over the woman from earlier. Alfred turned around to face the bat, "Master Dick brought her here. sir.. Oh, Don't worry Master Bruce, She is unconscious and won't be able to hear a thing."  
"Is she going to be okay, Alfred?" The butler softly turned his face down and closed his eyes, regretting the words he was about to say.

"The Joker got her, Master Bruce, it is a small chance of her survival.. if he had been any closer, he would've ended up slicing her heart in two."  
Suddenly the elevator of the cave made a small noise, right as a young-boy walked out with Dick.  
Bruce ignored their entrance and continued his talk with Alfred.

"Have you checked to see if she has a wallet? I.D.?" He groaned in pain of knowing the Joker had gotten away with another killing.  
"Indeed, her name is Crystal Brown, Sir."

"Crystal Brown?" The boy asked, as trying to reassure Alfred's answer.

"Yes, Master Timothy, Why do you ask?"  
Timothy rushed over to the table where the woman was laying, and he placed his hand on hers, trying to comfort the unconcious figure.  
"She's stephanies mother.."  
Tim was cut off by the sound of the monitor Alfred had hooked up to her. The screen showed a flat line, Bruce swiftly made his way to the woman and started to press his hands against her chest and get her heart beating again. He refused to let the Joker win over another life.

* * *

"Master Bruce... We've tried all we can in the past hour, she's gone.." The heart monitor still read as flat, she had no pulse, no warmth to her body.  
Tim picked up his cell phone and slowly started dialing a number.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the PMs and please review on what you think! :) And there are no slashes in this story. They're all adopted siblings in this story, no incest either. No tim/steph relationship. Sorry. **

**Note to self: ages in chapter one: D:19 B:31 T:10 J:12 S:10**

**current ages are. ****(**Dick: 26**)** **(**Bruce:38**)** **(**Tim:17**)** (Jason:18/19) (Steph:17)

* * *

**_Stephanies_**_** POV**_

Thunder was draining across the sky.. Lightning was flashing into the room.

There was sweat draining down my face, my lungs straining themselves from breathing too hard.

I hated having nightmares, particularly the ones where I was placed.., practically seeing how _that_ night had went; the way Batman and Nightwing went to capture Two-Face and Joker.. only to have it be one of their failures, resulting in the death of my mother.. It always starts out the same in my dream, those same light footsteps across the hardened floor, I can almost smell the smoke coming out of the alley way. It was almost as if I was my mother.

I shut my eyes and gripped my blanket.

I wasn't there for it to happen, but after all the stories I had been told, my mind came to a clear understanding.

* * *

**Dicks POV**

Every shot of thunder just kept making more noise, more noise that would keep me up.

I sat up and turned on the news, finally annoyed with the storm, hoping something interesting would occur.

At least something else was keeping me up besides nightmares.

I was annoyingly punching the buttons with my thumb, becoming aggravated that no channels were of any interest.

I turned off the TV and rolled back over my side when I heard a sharp scream coming from Stephanie's room, I threw off the covers and ran to her aid as soon as I could, fearing the worst was happening.

She was laying on her bed, clutching to her blanket with tears streaming down her face. I crawled into the bed with her and held her in my chest.

"Steph.. I'm here, I'm here.."

* * *

**Steph POV**

I finished wiping my tears off on the tissues Dick had given me. "I'm sorry I woke you... I didn't even realize I was screaming."

"Look, sis, it's okay. Bruce, you, and I all had those problems growing up, we still do, so don't be harsh on yourself, as Bruce use to tell me 'The pain won't go away completely, but it will get better over time" he shifted his weight over and pulled me closer to him while he rubbed his hand on my back. "..And you know, he wasn't wrong about that one bit. Steph. It will get better, I promise. It's been 16 years for me and I still can't get over it.. It's been at least 30 for Bruce and I know he still struggles with it, we are here for you, don't forget that."

"I just, I feel like such a baby for having these nightmares, it's been almost 7 years and I still feel like it was yesterday when I got the call from Tim and you."

"It will always feel like it was yesterday, but it will go away, I promise."

* * *

It was morning at the Wayne Manor, and of course, the boys all slid down the staircase trying to cause as much trouble as they could get away with before Alfred came in the living room to announce breakfast was ready.

Stephanie moved a little slower this morning from her lack of sleep and missed a few steps, tumbling forward on to the ground where her brothers laughed at her while Tim helped her up.

"Nice moves there, Miss Lopsided." Jason smirked at her while she started walking to the couch and sat down.

"Really, Jason? Nicknames so early in the morning? And is lopsided all you were able to come up with? Poor baby." She snapped at him and placed her feet on the arm of the couch, leaning back into the cushions.

Alfred strolled into the living room and cleared his throat, trying to get their attention before a fight started. "Breakfast is ready." He looked around and seemed startled. "Where is Master Bruce?"

The kids all shrugged at him, Dick had started heading up the stairs to go to Bruce's room, but before he even took the second step..

"I'm coming Alfred, give me a second, I haven't had my morning coffee yet." Bruce shouted from the top of the stairs.

Dick sarcastically scoffed at Bruce, "Geez, what a waste of walking up two steps."

* * *

The family was all organized and settled down at the table, eating their warm meals that Alfred had cooked for them; eggs, bacon, french toast, and warm glasses of milk.

Dick drank down half of his glass and made a milk-mustache for himself. "So Bruce, I mustache you a question, what kind of plans do you have for the day?"

Jason elbowed him in the arm and chuckled at his older brothers childish humor. They both turned to see Bruce giving them the one and only bat-glare. Stephanie and Timothy both tried to hold back the laughs their adoptive-father was causing, it's always funny when someone else gets in trouble for the stupid things.

"Actually, I have a meeting with Luscious Fox today, he has some new gear he wants me to over-look."

"Oh, oh, oh! Can we come Bruce, Please?" Timothy rose from his seat and eagerly awaited an answer.

"Sit down, Son. - I don't trust having all four of you there with me. Three of you would wreck the place." He stared down his sons long enough for them to get the picture. "Besides, Luscious was hoping I would just bring Stephanie, we need to get her a new suit since the last one was destroyed by bullet-proof ammo."

Stephanie sunk in her chair as the billionaire put her on spot, running her hand over the stitches Alfred had given her, as if they weren't reminder enough.

Jason leaned over to her and pulled her hand over, examining the stitches. "So this is the kind of stuff that happens to you when I am gone three whole days, huh?"

"Shut up Jason, you don't even know what happened. I'm not as clumsy as I seem. It's not like I asked them to shoot me." She snapped at him again.

"Woah woah, calm down little sis, just saying you need to be more careful when your big brothers aren't around." He placed his hand on her and tried to calm her down.

Stephanie pushed his hand off, "You act like I need protecting, Jason. I don't. I'm fine on my own." She stood up from the table and ran back to her room as quickly as she could.

* * *

**Bruce POV **

"I'll be right back." I spoke barely above a whisper to the boys as I followed Stephanie into her room.

"What do you want,_ Bruce_?" She snapped out my name.

"What's going on, Steph? You never let him get under your skin like that."

She shifted over in her bed. "I don't feel like talking about it." The teenage girl turned away from me and tried to hide her tears forming beneath her eyes.

"Stephanie..." She scoffed at me and crossed her arms, I leaned down and wrapped my arms around her.

She calmed down after a few minutes and sighed. "I'll tell you as long as you don't let anyone know, okay?"

I sat down next to my adoptive-daughter and wrapped my arm around hers, softly rubbing her shoulder.

"You have my word, Steph." I pulled her in tighter. She barely breathed and forced out her words; "I've thought about- well, mostly dreamed about, my mother.. again.. I was doing so well and then now..it starts happening again, Dick comforted me a few nights ago, and it helped for a while. But now they're back again and I just don't know what to do."

**Don't worry this chapter continues on the next one :) I figured it was getting a little long to post as just one, so I am splitting it into two chapters. **

**Anyways, Goodday/Goodnight everyone! And I will update some more tomorrow. Once again, please review or PM me on something you have an opinion out in my story. It's all appreciated :)**

**And P.S. I do go back and re-edit my chapters a few times even after publishing them. Because I get more tips from friends, or a new idea pops into my head. But don't worry. First chapter won't be touched anymore. The first chapters are always the hardest to get down just perfectly.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Flashback! **

**3 days ago**

**Steph pov**

_I woke up with a loud thud of a tray hitting a small table that was being slid over to where the dark figure was sitting, typing up a few words on the computer. Alfred picked up a few different things and rearranged the items. _

_ My eyesight finally kicked in and the dark figure formed into non-other than Batman without his cowl. I heard a small noise of the elevator as Alfred went back upstairs. I traced my fingers down the table, wondering what I was doing in here._

_I swung my legs over the side of the table and placed my feet gently on the ground, I started to push myself off and stood for about a few seconds; my body hadn't adjusted to the standing position fast enough. I had unregistered that I had stitches down my side. They started tearing and I gripped my side, unable to keep my balance and fell to the floor groaning in pain. _

_Bruce glanced over at me, suspected I was making the noises in my sleep; he ran over the second he noticed I was awake and riving on the floor in pain. _

_Why must I be so stupid? Why didn't I realize I had stitches before getting up? _

_"Stephanie!" He scooped me up in his arms and placed me back on the table. He looked panicked and intercommed over to Alfred, It felt like someone was driving a knife in my side, and up my back. The pain was excruciating. _

_Alfred showed up with Dick at his side, the butler forced a needle full of morphine into my system while re-patching my stitches._

* * *

_**flashback**__**DICK POV**_

_****__Alfred walked in after serving Bruce a subtle midnight snack and cleaned up after what mess Tim had made earlier. "Master Timothy, Master Dick, It is well past Midnight. You've been out patroling Dick, And If I do say, it is time to head for bed." _

_"Ahh come on, Alfred. It's friday. Let me and the kid stay up." I kicked my foot over to Tim, who was laying on the floor playing his video-games. He glanced up at me and pretended he couldn't hear Alfred. "Master Dick I highly think not."_

_I quickly tried to change subjects before he had a chance to argue again. "Where is Steph? Is she doing okay? She got it bad tonight.." _

_"She is still sleeping Master Dick, I will inform you when she wakes-" He was cut off by the small device he had clipped on to the collar of his jacket. "Alfred, get down here, Stephanie's went and ripped her stitches out." _

_I glanced up and chased him down to the cave._

_I remember when I was the one who didn't take the precaution of checking for stitches first.. I always hated that pain of pulled-stitches. _

_Alfred ran over to her with a needle he pulled out of his aid-kid. Bruce had his hands on her arms, trying to hold her down while she squirmed around from the pain. _

_Alfred had finished putting the stitches on her and I walked over to her, softly placing my hand on her head. First time she's ever been shot at, first time to have stitches. _

_"I shouldn't keep letting things like this happen, Dick." Bruce slouched over in to his chair with a worried look on his face. "Bruce, it wasn't your fault. She will be okay." _

_"I'm not just talking about her. I mean all of you. I keep letting you all follow me into this life and each one of you has been hurt by it." _

_"Bruce! Those are our choices, we chose to join you. You're not making any of us stay; You don't remember a few years ago when I left because I got tired of being the 'sidekick' and wanted to be on my own?" _

_Bruce sighed and made his way in to the elevator and back in to the house. I trailed back over to Stephanie and sat down next to her, making sure to keep a close eye on her._

**~End of flashback~**


End file.
